Jamie's squash & penne bake with ricotta & golden breadcrumbs

Name: Jamie's squash & penne bake with ricotta & golden breadcrumbs
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 400g butternut squash or pumpkin; 1 clove garlic; olive oil; ½ teaspoon chilli flakes; 160g dried wholewheat penne; 200g ricotta cheese; 20g Italian hard cheese; 2 sprigs fresh rosemary; 75g breadcrumbs; extra virgin olive oil

“When you’re after something super-comforting and hearty, this is the dish to turn to. Baked with herb-spiked breadcrumbs on the top, this old-school pasta bake is the ideal combination of oozy, stodginess (but in a good way!) and crisp perfection. Beautiful butternut squash is the hero of this recipe, and is a great source of vitamin A, which is needed to keep your skin and eyesight healthy. With bombs of crumbled ricotta dotted throughout, a good hit of heat from the chilli flakes, and a good grating of cheese to finish, you’ll have clear plates all round, guaranteed. ”

Serves 2

Cooks In40 minutes

DifficultyNot too tricky

Nutrition per serving

Calories 636 32%
Fat 20g 29%
Saturates 9.1g 46%
Sugars 16.3g 18%
Salt 1.4g 23%
Protein 27g 54%
Carbs 92g 35%
Fibre 11.1g -

Of an adult's reference intake

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Ingredients

400g butternut squash , or pumpkin
1 clove garlic
olive oil
½ teaspoon chilli flakes
160g dried wholewheat penne
200g ricotta cheese
20g Italian hard cheese
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
75g breadcrumbs
extra virgin olive oil

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Method

Deseed, peel and roughly chop the squash or pumpkin into small chunks, then peel and finely chop the garlic.
Heat a splash of olive oil in a medium pan on a medium heat, add the pumpkin, garlic and chilli flakes, cover with a lid and cook for around 20 minutes, or until softened.
Cook the penne in a pan of boiling salted water for 10 minutes, or until al dente, which means that it should be soft enough to eat, but still have a bit of bite and firmness to it.
Scoop out and reserve a cupful of the pasta cooking water, then drain and tip the penne back into the pan.
Once softened, remove the squash or pumpkin pan from the heat, mash with a potato masher or fork, then season to taste with sea salt and black pepper.
Preheat the grill to high.
Add the mashed squash or pumpkin to the penne, crumble in the ricotta and grate in three-quarters of the Italian hard cheese. Mix together, adding a splash of cooking water to loosen if the mixture is quite thick. Check and tweak the seasoning, if needed.
Tip into a baking dish (roughly 20cm x 25cm), and spread out evenly.
Pick, roughly chop and place the rosemary leaves into a small bowl with the breadcrumbs and a splash of extra virgin olive oil, then toss to coat.
Sprinkle evenly over the dish, grate over the remaining Italian hard cheese and grill for 5 to 10 minutes, or until golden and crisp. Delicious!